Ummah First

Auto-generated transcript:

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. My dear respected brothers, sisters, elders. Alhamdulillah this year we celebrated Eid al-Adha as one community.
Everyone coming together for the pleasure of Allah SWT in fulfillment of His command where He declared
Which means the believers are but one brotherhood.
So make peace between your brothers and be mindful of Allah
so that you may be shown mercy. The result was beautiful where for the first time in the history
of Western Massachusetts almost 5,000 Muslims prayed Salatul Eid al-Adha together. I ask Allah
SWT to always keep our hearts together and enable us to resolve any differences that may arise from
time to time respectfully in the light of the Quran and Sunnah alone. More concerned about
guarding the Prophet and the Prophet’s family and the Prophet’s family and the Prophet’s family.
The fact that Allah SWT mentions making peace and reconciliation means that conflict is always a possibility.
I remind you that conflict is never the problem. It is how we deal with it which can either help us
to draw closer or fall apart. It is our choice and we are accountable for it.
Allah SWT commanded us to be united and remain together. And He said
وَاَتَصِمُوا بِحَبْلِ اللَّهِ جَمِيًا وَلَا تَفَرَّقُوا وَاذْكُرُوا نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ
إِذْ كُنْتُمْ عَادَاءً فَأَلَّفَ بَيْنَ قُلُوبِكُمْ فَأَسْبَحَتُمْ بِنِعْمَتِهِ إِخْوَانًا
وَكُنْتُمْ عَلَى شَفَى حُفُرَةٍ مِّنَ النَّارِ فَأَنْخَذَكُمْ مِّنْهَا
كَذَلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ آيَاتِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَهْتَدُونَ
Allah SWT said in Surah Al-Imran
And hold firmly to the rope of Allah SWT together and do not be divided.
Remember Allah SWT’s favor upon you when you were enemies.
Then He,
united your hearts.
So you by His grace became brothers.
And you were at the brink of a fiery pit.
And He saved you from it.
This is how Allah SWT makes His revelations clear to you
so that you may be rightly guided.
I remind myself and you that Allah SWT
commanded us to remain united
and not to create divisions and enmity between each other.
He did not tell us not to have different opinions or not to disagree.
It is about unity, not uniformity.
Allah SWT commanded us not to allow such differences
to form the basis of dividing the ummah of Rasulullah SAW.
He called being divided as being on the brink or edge of a pit of fire
and said that it was,
He, Jalla Jalaluhu, who saved us from falling into it.
We ask Allah SWT to save us from enmity towards one another
and thereby falling into the pit of fire.
To ensure our material and spiritual safety,
it is essential to develop emotional maturity
and to be able to keep the collective welfare of the ummah
as the goal of all collective decision making.
This is not an impossible or impossible.
It is an idealistic goal.
To encourage us,
we have examples of the conduct of the Sahaba,
Ridwanullahi Alim Ajmain,
who always put the ummah ahead of themselves.
Let me quote just one of these finest of examples
from the early history of Islam and the Muslims.
When Sayyidina Abu Bakr al-Siddiq passed away
and Sayyidina Umar ibn al-Khattab succeeded him,
almost the first act,
that he did was to send a Farman,
to send an order relieving Khalid bin Walid
of supreme command of the Rashidun Khilafah’s army
and appointing his assistant Sayyidina Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah
in his place as the commander.
This order reduced Sayyidina Khalid bin Walid
from being commander in chief to private,
in one sentence.
Imagine you are broken from being the commander in chief.
In today’s language, you would say,
general, of course, maybe field marshal.
One stroke, you are now private.
You’re an ordinary soldier in the army.
There’s no instance to my knowledge in military history
to compare with this.
This never happened.
You might ask what Sayyidina Khalid bin Walid al-Anu
had done to deserve this treatment.
The answer is he did nothing.
He had not done anything to deserve this treatment.
On the other hand, he had the unique honor
of having won every battle that he ever commanded.
To cap it all, he had the title of Sayfullah
from Rasulullah himself.
This was so significant that when Sayyidina Umar ibn al-Khattab
tried to get Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq
to relieve Sayyidina Khalid, on the other hand,
he was to be lifted from the supreme command of the army.
Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq refused.
And he said, I will not sheath the sword
that Rasulullah has drawn.
Meanwhile, Khalid bin Walid went on to prove himself
and conquered all the lands.
Go look up a map.
He conquered all the lands from the hijaz,
including the hijaz,
all the way north to the bank of the Tigris.
and Euphrates. That is all of Arabia, all of the Levant and all of Mesopotamia.
With his victory at Firaz in Mesopotamia, he significantly weakened the Persian Sasanian
Empire, which was finally conquered in the Battle of Khansiyah. He lived up to and justified the
title that Rasulullah gave him and earned a reputation that is quite literally unsurpassed
in the history of humankind of being a commander who fought over 200 battles and did not lose a
single one. This makes him unique in history, especially since he lived in a time of legendary
generals. And so his opposition was the strongest. His army loved him and was totally loyal to him
because soldiers love to fight for a commander who gives them victories.
There’s a wonderful lecture on Khalid bin Walid by Professor Roy Casagrande of Austin School.
It’s on YouTube. Look it up. It’s a wonderful lecture of the details of who Khalid bin Walid
was and his battles and so on and so forth. Now, we don’t have time to discuss all that in detail
in Jum’ah, but it’s one of those classic incidents in history about which one could ask how things
would have turned out if a single decision was made. So, I’m going to go ahead and start with
the first one.
This is the one who Syedna Omar bin al-Khattab had not taken Khalid bin Walid away from the
command. You could well ask how would the history of Islam have been different. This
is the one who Syedna Omar bin al-Khattab demoted and broke from supreme commander to
private. Now, put yourself in the place of Syedna Khalid bin Walid in a non-military context. In our
current context, say you are the best manager in your company. You have won deals that grew your
company from being a small local operator to becoming a global player with total dominance
in the market. You are on the board of directors with only the chairman of the board above you.
Suddenly, you get an order making you a salesman, ordinary salesman. Board gone,
directorship gone, everything gone. You are the best manager in your company. You have won deals
that grew your company from being a small local operator to becoming a global player with total
dominance in the market. You are on the board of directors with only the chairman of the board above you.
Suddenly, you get an order making you a salesman, ordinary salesman. Board gone, everything gone.
What would you do? What would you do? Dumb question, right? The purpose of history is to learn lessons
to apply in our lives. Sadly, we only use it to tell very, sometimes very sketchy stories without
much evidence. We cry a few tears and we learn nothing. Think about this. Given technology of
the time and the speed of communication, which is the speed of communication, which is the speed of
communication, which is a soldier, a rider riding from Medina to where Sayyidina Khalid was at the
time in Yarmouk in Iraq. Sayyidina Umar could not possibly have known what the situation on the
ground would be when his messenger reached the army. The messenger reached the night before the
Muslim army was to engage the Byzantine forces in the most significant battle of Islamic history
called the Battle of Yarmouk in 636. A decisive battle of this campaign that broke the back of the
Eastern Roman Empire. Night before that, this order comes. Sayyidina Umar was the decision to attempt
to remove a commander who had earned the reputation of never having lost a battle and therefore had the
total loyalty of troops could have been fatal.
For the Khilafah Rashida. I can tell you how this would have played out if that commander being
relieved have been anyone other than Sayyidina Khalid bin Waleed. Anyone other than that. That
commander would have fought the Roman army the next morning and after winning the battle would
have turned the forces in the direction of Medina and he would have deposed the Khalifa and he would
have declared himself a Khalifa without any problem.
Whatsoever. Nobody would have objected. Later in the history of Islam, in case you think I’m
exaggerating, read the history of Islam. Later in the history of Islam and the Muslims, this is
exactly what happened in dynasty after dynasty. Muslims killed more Muslims and blood relatives
than their enemies ever did. To the extent the Ottoman Sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent or
Suleiman the Magnificent, he passed a law legalizing the killing of brothers in dynastic wars.
He said in a dynastic war if you kill your brother it’s not a crime. It is not Islam.
This is not Islam by any stretch of the imagination. It is a law passed by one of the greatest
of the Osmani rulers, Sultans. We return to the story of Qalb bin Waleed and the lessons that we should learn from this story.
take from that story.
All I can say
is that Sayyidina Umar
knew
his brother Khalid
better than anybody else
could know.
So he simply sent this letter
to Khalid bin Waleed
with his command.
Now again,
picture yourself.
There’s a major battle
that’s going to happen the next morning.
This Qasid, this
messenger comes from Medina.
He goes to Sayyidina Khalid
Adilanu, gives him the letter.
Sayyidina Khalid reads
the letter,
keeps the letter,
confines the messenger to his
own tent.
He tells the messenger, stay inside here, don’t
come out of the tent, don’t talk to anybody.
Next morning,
he commands the battle.
He wins
the battle.
And then he gives the letter to
Abu Ubaidah
and steps down.
Radhilanu.
Obviously,
Sayyidina Khalid Radhilanu realized
that if the contents of that letter
had become public the previous night,
it would destroy
the morale of the army.
And that would be fatal.
Imagine the
emotional intelligence.
And confidence of someone
who could continue
to prioritize the welfare
of the nation above his own.
Even when
faced with the destruction of his own
career for no
reason of his own making.
Imagine the
emotional strain
of working through frustration
at what was happening to him.
But continuing to think
and plan and command and
act.
And that is the reason why
the army is successfully in battle the next day.
Next day,
thanks to Allah SWT’s mercy
and Sayyidina Khalid bin Wali’s
absolutely amazing
generalship,
the Muslims won the battle
which spurred the end of Byzantine rule
in Sham.
There are many accounts
of the number of Muslims
and the number of the Romans.
The Eastern Roman Empire.
For one of the
finest,
the這個
will be
the Icelandic
and,
lastly ,
Bonnie iki
Theoricky
The
gold, the glitter, the brocade, the weapons, the…
What they faced? He said, fear showed on my face.
But next to him was a Sahabi from Badr, one of the senior Sahaba.
And this is how companionship gets built.
So he said, that Sahabi looked at my face and he says to him,
he said, he smiled and he told me,
it looks like you are seeing something which is frightening you.
Now this is a senior person mentoring a junior in the field of battle.
He said, looks like you are seeing something which is frightening you.
He said, what are you talking about? Not frightening you? You’re not frightening?
Look at this.
What do you mean, frightening me?
He smiled and he said, you are not with us in Badr.
You are not with us in Badr.
He said, Allah does not give victory based on weapons.
He said, Allah gives victory based on Taqwa.
And Allah Subh’anaHu Wa Ta-A’la gives them victory.
And he smiled and said, Aya Maangle Shafiq of monkeys of her generation,
put yourself in a position of faking b 얼굴 próximo madeleina.
Now put yourself in the position of the one who was receiving this command,
abu overnight small lambi,
you get this completely unexpected promotion to the supreme command.
And the person who had it one day before you,
and who had it from day one, on the first day, was not just your occurs or subordinate now, but me.”
most humble of them. What would you do? What would you do in that situation? You know what
Sayyidina Abu Ubaidah did? See the caliber of people. Abu Ubaidah says to Sayyidina Khalid,
the Ameerul Momineen may have removed you from command, but I now in my position as
Commander-in-Chief appoint you as my advisor and you will continue to lead the army.
We have one little difference with somebody, you don’t see his face.
You won’t pray behind him. You won’t say Salah. Staghf al-Allahil Azim. Have some shame.
Here is people, their whole career is getting destroyed in front of their eyes
and the other one is salvaging that and saying, no, no, no, no, no,
hold on to it.
Hold on a second. Your knowledge, your command, your strategy, your ability,
we are not going to let this go down the drain like that. No way.
This is for the Ummah and I will do my best to ensure that this remains.
And that is how the next conquered Palestine and Jerusalem.
That happened after this.
Read history.
Someone asked Sayyidina Khalid, Radha il-Anhu, when all this happened.
He said, what will you do now?
What will you do now that Omar, Radha il-Anhu, has taken away your command?
Sayyidina Khalid says, since when was I fighting for Omar?
He says, since when was I fighting for him? What do you think?
Since when do you think I was fighting for Omar Ibn al-Khatib?
He said, he said, I fought for the sake of the one for whose sake I will fight to my last day.
On a side note, Sayyidina Khalid, Radha il-Anhu, many years later,
he was dying last moments of his life.
He was dying last moments of his life.
He was on his deathbed and a friend came to see him.
He said to his friend, look at me.
He said, Allah is my witness.
He says, there is not a spot in my body from the top of my head to the bottom,
from the soles of my feet, which does not bear the wound of a sword or a spear or an arrow.
Not one spot.
He said, throughout my life in every battle, I put myself into the thick of battle.
In the battle of Mota, Sayyidina Khalid went through seven swords.
He broke seven swords, one after the other.
Finally, he had a huge.
Yemeni brought short, a massive piece of iron at the end of the battle.
He said, he said, there is not a, I said, I didn’t try to save myself.
He said, I always put myself into the thick of battle.
There’s not a place, not a spot in my body from the top of my head to the sole of my feet,
which does not bear the wound or the scar of a sword or a spear or an arrow.
And today, he said, he had a sword, not a spear, but a sword and he was going.
I’m dying in my bed like a camel.
He said, I did not get shahadah.
I searched for it.
And that is why
he was having good friends.
You know what his friend says to him?
His friend says, don’t worry.
Allah will reward you
in keeping with His Majesty.
He says, your fate was sealed
the day Rasulullah
gave you the title of Saifullah,
the sword of Allah.
He says, how can the sword of Allah
fight for in battle?
He says, your fate was sealed
the day Rasulullah
gave you the title of Saifullah.
How can the sword of Allah
fall in battle?
He said, you could not have been killed.
Nobody could have killed you.
And this is from Allah.
And Allah will reward you
for seeking shahadah.
In his whole history,
we see people
with different personalities,
sometimes antagonistic to one another,
with different roles,
different ambitions,
aspirations, apprehensions,
but with one common,
unchangeable focus.
And that was
how to benefit the Ummah
of Muhammad Rasulullah
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
And to that,
they subjugated everything else.
Every desire, every fear,
every anxiety, every hope
subjected to what is good
for the Ummah.
Not for me, not for my family,
not for my friends,
not for the whole Ummah.
That was the secret of the formation
and protection of the Ummah.
And that is the reason
we have Islam today.
I remind myself and you
that that is our responsibility today,
to which we will be held accountable
when we meet Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala.
Believe me, my brothers and sisters,
we don’t want to face
the likes of Khalid bin Walid
radiallahu anhu,
Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah
radiallahu anhu,
Umar ibn al-Khattab
radiallahu anhu,
and many others of the Sahaba.
Ridwanullahi alayhi majma’een.
And have them ask
why we could not put
our differences aside
for the sake of the Ummah.
When we had their examples before us,
where they did it,
no matter the personal cost
to their prestige
and their careers
and their influence.
If they turn around and say,
why could you not put
your difference aside?
What is the answer?
In life, a sense of history
is very important
because a day will come
when you and I will be remembered.
The question to ask is,
what do I want to be remembered for?
What do I want to be remembered for?
I remember his father.
Sheikh Malem Borhat,
Hazar’s father.
One of my dearest and closest friends.
I remember him
as a pillar
of this masjid.
A pillar of this masjid.
Inshallah, one of those,
along with his other brother,
who is the other pillar of the masjid,
Sheikh Omar Yaktir.
Rahmatullah alayhi majma’een.
I ask Allah to make them among those
who he will share it on the,
under his shade,
on the day when there is no shade.
Because he said,
Jalal Jalaluhu.
And Abu Salim told us
that among the seven
who will be shaded
will be those
who will be attached
to the masjid.
And I bear witness
from this member
of Rasulullah
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
that Sheikh Omar Yaktir
and Sheikh Malem Borhat
were those two
of this masjid.
Alhamdulillah.
You will be remembered,
always.
Ask what do you want
to be remembered for?
There will be those
who will be remembered
for having divided
the ummah of Rasulullah
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
There will be those
who will be remembered
for having been silent spectators
who could have raised
their voices against it
but chose not to.
There will be yet others
who will be remembered
for fanning the flames
of hatred and jealousy
and envy and enmity.
And then there will be those
who will be remembered
because in the face of all this
they chose to stand for unity.
They chose this even
when they were sometimes alone.
They chose it
because they were alone.
Because they asked themselves
if not me
then who?
If not now
then when?
They stood
not because it benefited them
in any worldly way
or to become popular
or for money
or for votes
or any other reason.
They stood for unity
because they loved Allah
and they loved Rasulullah
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
more than anything else.
Now ask,
on the Day of Judgment,
who among these types
will be honored
and forgiven?
I advise you and myself
to be with them,
to be them,
to discard and ignore
all those who speak the language of division,
of sectarianism,
of tribalism,
of racism,
of religious intolerance.
Discard them, ignore them, walk away.
Look for the good in people.
Look for the good in people.
Look for the good in people.
Don’t look for evil in people.
You want to look for evil,
go look in the mirror.
There’s plenty to see there.
Look for the good in people.
Become Allah’s cover
for the faults of others
and Allah will conceal your faults.
Become Allah’s cover
for the faults of others
and Allah will conceal your faults.
Imam Malik Bin Anas ,
Radha-al-Ana,
Ramatul-Ala, he says
that I have known people
who were great scholars,
who were famous,
who had all kinds of things,
but they used to look for the faults of people
and point them out.
And Allah disgraced them
in their most private places.
in their most private places.
They couldn’t save themselves.
Allah disgraced them.
And he says, I know other people
who were very humble,
who were not good,
who were not great scholars,
who were not great anything,
but they hid and covered
the faults of others
and Allah
elevated their rank
and elevated their mention.
Choose who you want to be.
You want to go around finding people’s faults?
You want to go around
promoting divisions?
You want to go around remembering
something that somebody did
a hundred years ago?
Do it.
It’s your life.
But if you don’t want to do that,
you want to cover it,
you want to forgive,
you want to have mercy,
because you want Allah
to have the same for you,
that also is a choice.
That is my message
to all of you.
Become joiners,
not dividers.
Build bridges,
not walls.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (23.5MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | Email | Youtube Music | RSS